Two important factors are critical in creating the impression that a computer generated or physical character is intelligently interacting with their visual environment. The first is the ability of a character to maintain visual contact with subjects in its field of view. The second is the way in which that character moves to maintain its visual contact or switch visual contact to a new subject. It is often desirable to direct the character's motion in more complex ways than simply moving its head left, right, up, and down. Those trained in the discipline of animation will recognize that life-like characters have a clear process by which they redirect their gaze. Live creatures tend to have tiers of movement when moving to look at a subject. They first lead with their eyes, then follow with head movement, and then torso movement. For example, when a human looks up at an object flying overhead (FIG. 1A), she first rolls her eyes upward (FIG. 1A, frame 1), then leans her neck back tilting her head up towards the sky (FIG. 1A, frame 2). If the object is very high above, the human observer may lean her spine backwards (FIG. 1A, frame 3). If a human wants to look at an object to her left (FIG. 1B), she may first roll her eyes in that direction (FIG. 1B, frame 1) before turning her head to the left (FIG. 1B, frame 2). For a fuller perspective, or for more comfortable viewing, the human may next shift her upper torso, or whole body, to the left (FIG. 1B, frame 3).
Traditionally, in the field of entertainment animatronics, the visual focus (or “gaze”) of puppeteered robotic characters is controlled through a mechanical input device like a radio controller or joystick. The operator maintains visual contact with the robot's environment directly or through a video feed of the robot's immediate surroundings. The operator controls the gaze of the robot in response to stimuli in the robot's environment, usually by manipulating knobs, control sticks and/or buttons on the aforementioned mechanical input device.
In the traditional method, the operator will need to split his/her visual attention between the local space of the mechanical input device and the external space of the robot in its environment. This split of attention hinders the operator's ability to observe and rapidly respond/react to changes in the robot's environment. A split interface does not provide adequate feedback for the operator to react to, and maintain visual contact with, any one subject in the robot's field of view. Further, traditional control methods do not provide the operator with means for using gaze to control complex movements and recreate a more realistic human-like movement therewith.
What is needed is an intuitive interface for controlling a character's visual focus by integrating gaze control and character movement within the character's visual environment. The present invention overlays a visual feed of the character's environment with digital controls. Such overlaying allows an operator to see both the character controls and environment for that character simultaneously, and in context. This integration enables the operator to quickly react to changes in the character's environment while providing an intuitive, effective interface to create more life-like motions in a character as its gaze shifts around a particular Scene. The same invention allows an operator to control the visual focus of digital computer generated characters and physical robotic characters using the same interface and method.